“I expected a diffuse dust tail to survive (for several hours) before fading away but NOT any kind of nucleus!” he tweeted today. “I’ve worked with sungrazers for 8yrs; today was the most amazing day I’ve ever had with them!”

… Comets plunge into the sun on a regular basis, but they rarely give much advance notice of their suicidal intentions. That’s why scientists were so excited about Lovejoy. Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy discovered the icy wanderer on Nov. 27, giving researchers plenty of time to map out their observation campaign.